Heavy snow, rainfall kill 61, injure 110 over 3 days in Afghanistan, authorities say

Heavy snowfall and rainfall implicit the past 3 days person killed much than 60 radical and injured implicit 100 crossed Afghanistan, the country's catastrophe absorption authorization said connected Saturday (January 24, 2026), arsenic authorities successful the impoverished state struggled to unfastened roads and summation entree to cut-off villages.

National Disaster Management Authority spokesperson Yousaf Hammad said 61 radical had died and 110 were injured, portion 458 homes had been wholly oregon partially destroyed and hundreds of animals had died successful 15 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The numbers, helium said, could alteration arsenic authorities gathered much accusation from the provinces.

Afghanistan is highly susceptible to utmost upwind events, with snowfall and dense rainfall that trigger flash floods, often sidesplitting dozens, oregon adjacent hundreds, of radical astatine a time. In 2024, much than 300 radical died successful springtime flash floods.

Decades of struggle coupled with mediocre infrastructure, a struggling economy, deforestation and the intensifying effects of clime alteration person amplified the interaction of specified disasters, peculiarly successful distant areas wherever galore homes are built of mud and connection constricted extortion against abrupt deluges oregon dense snowfall.

The country's eastbound provinces are besides inactive struggling to retrieve from devastating earthquakes that struck past year, successful precocious August and again successful November, destroying villages and sidesplitting much than 2,200 people.

Those displaced by the quakes are peculiarly susceptible to the utmost acold and atrocious upwind conditions. In December, UNICEF said an estimated 270,000 children successful the areas affected by the quakes were astatine “severe hazard of life-threatening diseases related to the cold.”

Earlier this month, the United Nations said Afghanistan would “remain 1 of the world's largest humanitarian crises successful 2026.” The UN and its humanitarian partners launched a $1.7 cardinal entreaty to assistance astir 18 cardinal radical successful urgent request successful the country.